Raticate
by Recognition2
Summary: Red just had to parade into the place, all steroid-pumped Ivysaur and overpowered Pikachu by his side. Of all places, he wanted to battle here. He just loved standing shirtless in the rain, didn't he? Rated T for Blue's profanity.


_**Originally written: 1/20/14**_

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Blue didn't hate Red. He could never hate the little asswipe. They were like brothers; they didn't get along very well, but they understood each other better than they knew themselves.

And boy, did Red know how to make him tick.

This had to be the fourth time Blue lost to him, and while he didn't exactly resent the boy for it, he was definitely feeling something akin to it. He might have been a step ahead, but Red knew how to keep up. If Blue let up now, he'd whirl past him in a flash. And for the sake of his pride, he couldn't let that happen.

So, deciding that Raticates sucked Poke Balls, he flung the thing into the PC and let it be. Nobody had ever gotten far with Normal-type Pokemon anyway. Unless it was a Snorlax. In fact, a Snorlax could be devastating if it was trained right...

But alas, the fatso on Route 12 was still lounging around.

Whatever. Normal-types were terrible anyways. A Gyarados would do him well. Yeah, a Gyarados would do him just fine. Maybe he'd get a Marowak too. He vaguely remembered Gramps talking about how badass it was one time. Of course, he didn't use the word badass. Bless the little old man's soul.

Lavender Town scared Blue _shitless_.

People in this place were _possessed_, and if anybody thought_ he'd_ be the one to deal with them, they had another thing coming. This was a simple get in, get out sort of situation, but suddenly there were _no freaking Marowaks_ and ghosts were paralyzing his Pokemon. For once, Blue had found the one thing more annoying than Red, because a weak Pokemon was nothing compared to one that couldn't even battle to begin with. But lo and behold, his prayers had somehow reached Arceus from this hellhole. A beautiful little Cubone was sitting on a tombstone right in front of him. And at that moment, he decided to take what he could get and run. He didn't give a _flying flip_ if the little guy wasn't a Marowak, or if he was the weakest Cubone in existence. Blue could work out the technicalities later. After all, Daisy had always told him that vitamins help Pokemon grow up strong.

But of course, Red just _had_ to parade into the place, all steroid-pumped Ivysaur and overpowered Pikachu by his side. Of all places, he wanted to battle _here_, in this cursed tower with people in desperate need of exorcisms and ghosts that he hoped were something plausible in their reality. Red really loved standing shirtless in the rain, didn't he?

Whatever. He'd get it over with and done. At this point, he couldn't have cared less whether he won or not. His wallet was feeling terribly light anyways.

"Hey, pal! Your Pokemon don't look dead! I can at least make them faint."

Color drained almost instantaneously from Red's face, a vacant gaze in his eyes.

What was that all about? Did he think he meant it literally? Maybe he'd seen a ghost or something. If he wanted to take this battle outside, Blue would be more than willing to comply.

But he simply sent out his Pikachu. The battle begun.

And of course, he won. Whatever. Blue hadn't exactly been trying anyway. All he wanted was to get out of here ASAP.

But just as he began to head out, Red raised a shaky hand and caught him by the wrist.

"Hey! Hands off, bud. What do you want now?"

His mouth opened and closed a few times, searching for words. Blue sighed inwardly, his look voicing his belief that Red had the mental capability of a retarded Golduck.

A cold chill whispered against his skin. Oh for the love of...

"Earth to Red! Look lively, man!"

"W-What happened to your Raticate?"

His voice was little more than a breath nearly gone with the cackling of the local psychos, but he'd heard it. If it weren't Red, he probably wouldn't have cared enough to listen so closely.

"What do you mean?" Blue asked.

"You... You had a Raticate, d-didn't you?"

"Yeah, so? Why do you care?"

"W-Where...?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you think? Stashed the rat away. You're acting like it's dead or something."

Red blinked, exhaled slowly, deliberately let go of Blue's arm and went about his business.

What a weirdo.

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**I love this story so much XD I'm actually more proud of it than a lot of my more serious fics. I like to believe the whole "you killed your rival's Raticate and that's why he's at the Pokemon Tower" theory because I feel like it makes Blue a lot more... well, easier to empathize with. Not that killing Pokemon is a good thing. And it's also kinda realistic, because come on. If a Dragonite does Hyper Beam on a Caterpie, it doesn't faint. It DIES.**

**But of course, I just had to debunk the whole thing. It makes for a funny tale. :)**


End file.
